A New Examination of Confucius' Rectification of Names
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Carroll 2018 [Dao]
1 This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, December 2018, 17/4, 527–545. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s11712-018-9627-5. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Springer Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. “Wittgenstein and the Xunzi on the Clarification of Language”1 Thomas D. Carroll Senior Lecturer, General Education The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen 2001 Longxiang Avenue, Longgang District Shenzhen, China 518172 Email: [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0003-2890-9323 Abstract: Broadly speaking, language is part of a social activity in both Wittgenstein and Xunzi 荀⼦, and for both clarification of language is central to their philosophical projects; the goal of this article is to explore the extent of resonance and discord that may be found when comparing these two philosophers. While for Xunzi, the rectification of names (zhengming 正名) is anchored in a regard for establishing, propagating, and/or restoring a harmonious social system, perspicuity is for Wittgenstein represented as a philosophical end in itself. The article ventures study in particular the themes of perspicuity and aspect-perception in Wittgenstein together with the topics of correcting names and the cultivation of the heart-mind (xin ⼼) in the Xunzi. The 1 A previous version of this article was read at the 2015 meeting of the International Society for Chinese Philosophy in Hong Kong. I am thankful to attendees for questions that have helped improve my thinking with respect to these philosophical traditions. -
A New Examination of Confucius' Rectification of Names
Journal of chinese humanities � (���6) �47-�7� brill.com/joch A New Examination of Confucius’ Rectification of Names Cao Feng (曹峰) Professor of Philosophy, Renmin University, China [email protected] Translated by Brook Hefright Abstract Confucius’ explanation of the “rectification of names” is not necessarily related to the theories of “social status” and “names and actuality.” The reason scholars have inter- preted the rectification of names in the Analects in so many different ways is, to a large degree, due to assumptions about Confucius’ thinking by his successors, and based on the views on rectification of names among later generations. In the course of the devel- opment of thinking about names, scholars have augmented Confucius’ own explana- tion, gradually fleshing it out from an empty shell into a substantial edifice. The original meaning may have been very simple: Confucius did not wish to establish a standard system of names. Rather, he was simply the first person in history to realize the impor- tance of language in politics. As a politician, Confucius noticed and foresaw the influ- ence that the indeterminacy, ambiguity, and arbitrariness of names could have on politics. He discerned the political consequences when language could not accurately express meaning or when there was no way for people to accurately perceive it. He also recognized how names, as a way of clarifying right and wrong and establishing norms, could have a great effect on a society’s politics. Although Confucius noted that disunity in speech could lead to disunity in politics, he did not propose a solution. -
Xin : Being Trustworthy
This document is downloaded from DR‑NTU (https://dr.ntu.edu.sg) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Xin : being trustworthy Sung, Winnie 2020 Sung, W. (2020). Xin : being trustworthy. International Philosophical Quarterly, 60(3), 271‑286. doi:10.5840/ipq2020715151 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/144891 https://doi.org/10.5840/ipq2020715151 © 2020 Foundation for International Philosophical Exchange. All rights reserved. This paper was published in International Philosophical Quarterly and is made available with permission of Foundation for International Philosophical Exchange. Downloaded on 26 Sep 2021 06:06:43 SGT Xin: Being Trustworthy Abstract This essay analyses the Confucian conception of xin 信, an attribute that broadly resembles what we would ordinarily call trustworthiness. More specifically, it focuses on providing an analysis of the psychology of someone who is xin and highlighting a feature of the Confucian conception of trustworthiness, namely, the trustworthy has to ensure that there is a match between her self-presentation and the way she is. My goal is not to argue against any of the existing accounts of trustworthiness, but to draw on Confucian insights to shed light on features of trustworthiness that are overlooked in current discussions. I hope to show that the Confucian conception of trustworthiness emphasises more on how the trustworthy actively tries to make sure another’s dependency on her is not unwarranted, rather than how the trustworthy responds to the trustor. 1. Introduction So long as we are socially situated, we cannot avoid interacting with other people in some ways, even if these interactions are not the deep and meaningful kind. -
The Zuozhuan Account of the Death of King Zhao of Chu and Its Sources
SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS Number 159 August, 2005 The Zuozhuan Account of the Death of King Zhao of Chu and Its Sources by Jens Østergaard Petersen Victor H. Mair, Editor Sino-Platonic Papers Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305 USA [email protected] www.sino-platonic.org SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS FOUNDED 1986 Editor-in-Chief VICTOR H. MAIR Associate Editors PAULA ROBERTS MARK SWOFFORD ISSN 2157-9679 (print) 2157-9687 (online) SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS is an occasional series dedicated to making available to specialists and the interested public the results of research that, because of its unconventional or controversial nature, might otherwise go unpublished. The editor-in-chief actively encourages younger, not yet well established, scholars and independent authors to submit manuscripts for consideration. Contributions in any of the major scholarly languages of the world, including romanized modern standard Mandarin (MSM) and Japanese, are acceptable. In special circumstances, papers written in one of the Sinitic topolects (fangyan) may be considered for publication. Although the chief focus of Sino-Platonic Papers is on the intercultural relations of China with other peoples, challenging and creative studies on a wide variety of philological subjects will be entertained. This series is not the place for safe, sober, and stodgy presentations. Sino- Platonic Papers prefers lively work that, while taking reasonable risks to advance the field, capitalizes on brilliant new insights into the development of civilization. Submissions are regularly sent out to be refereed, and extensive editorial suggestions for revision may be offered. Sino-Platonic Papers emphasizes substance over form. -
Melancholy in Europe and in China: Some Observations of a Student of Intercultural Process*
ASIAN AND AFRICAN STUDIES, 5, 1996, 1, 5069 MELANCHOLY IN EUROPE AND IN CHINA: SOME OBSERVATIONS OF A STUDENT OF INTERCULTURAL PROCESS* Marián GÁLIK Institute of Oriental and African Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia The aim of this paper is to characterize the different modes of melancholy in the West and in China during the ages beginning with the 8th cent. B.C. in Greece and 3rd cent. B.C. in China up to the beginning of the 20th cent. within the framework of intercultural process. There are the men who are wanting in the comparative, they are as a rule the most interesting. (Søren Kierkegaard: The Journals) The subject I am just beginning to talk about, is probably the most difficult and debatable topic during more than 35 years of my scholarly career. To solve adequately or at least approximately the question of melancholy in two parts of the world, that is Europe and China, is certainly not possible in the contempo- rary state of research, and even to try it, could be characterized as an adventure. One should have the measures of the bird Peng [1] from the book Zhuangzi [2], which with a back like Mount Tai and wings like clouds filling the sky1 would roam through the space under the blue and grey skies of the Eurasian continent to study variegated processes within the broad frameworks encom- passing that which our Western world labelled as melancholia, mélancolia, Melancholie, melenconie, malinconia, acedia, tristitia, tristesse, etc., just to name a few terms, concerned with this concept, and be good in or to understand enough from the ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, medicine, psychology, * This paper was delivered at the international conference: Melancholy and Society in China, organized by Professor Wolfgang Kubin, Bonn, July 36, 1995. -
The Status of Cosmic Principle (Li) in Neo-Confucian Metaphysics
jeeloo liu THE STATUS OF COSMIC PRINCIPLE (LI) IN NEO-CONFUCIAN METAPHYSICS Introduction In this article, I attempt to make use of Western metaphysical notions to explicate the cosmological variances in Chinese philosophical thinking, with specific reference to the debates among the Neo- Confucian thinkers. While I do not presume and argue that Chinese philosophers dealt with the same Western issues, I do believe that a comparative study of this nature can point to a new direction of think- ing concerning metaphysical pondering in Neo-Confucianism. This article is divided into three parts. In Part I, I employ Robert Nozick’s notion of natural cosmic state to analyze the fundamental difference between the Confucian and Daoist cosmologies. Even though this notion of natural cosmic state has no comparable match in Chinese philosophy, it may serve as an analytic and explanatory device for our comparative study of Chinese cosmology. In Part II, I employ Nicholas Rescher’s distinction between “laws of nature” and “laws for nature” to analyze the debate on the status of cosmic prin- ciple (li)a between Zhou Dunyib and Zhu Xic on the one hand, and Zhang Zaid and Wang Fuzhie on the other.1 In Part III, I employ the notion of supervenience,as defined by Jaegwon Kim,to argue that in the debate on the status of cosmic principle, it is Zhang Zai and Wang Fuzhi’s view that better preserves the causal relevance of cosmic principle in a physicalistic universe.2 In light of the three notions borrowed from contemporary Western metaphysics, I hope to offer an analytic reconstruction of the age-old debate on the status of cosmic principle (li). -
Legal Orientalism
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Michigan School of Law Michigan Law Review Volume 101 Issue 1 2002 Legal Orientalism Teemu Ruskola American University Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, Jurisprudence Commons, Legal History Commons, and the Legal Writing and Research Commons Recommended Citation Teemu Ruskola, Legal Orientalism, 101 MICH. L. REV. 179 (2002). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol101/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Michigan Law Review at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Michigan Law Review by an authorized editor of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LEGAL ORIENTALISM Teemu Rusko/a* [The] world-wide ... diffusion of [Western culture] has protected us as man had never been protected before from having to take seriously the civilizations of other peoples; it has given to our culture a massive univer- . sality that we have long ceased to account fo r historically, and which we read off rather as necessary and inevitable. 1 - Ruth Benedict [In China,] animals are divided into: (a) belonging to the Emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fa bulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j) innumer able, (k) drawn with a very fine camel hair brush, (1) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from a long way offlook like flies.2 - Michel Foucault * Assistant Professor of Law, American University; Sabbatical Visitor at the Center for the Study of Law and Culture and Senior Fellow at the Center for Chinese Legal Studies, Columbia Law School. -
Feng Youlan's Interpretation of Western Philosophy
ASIANetwork Exchange | Fall 2014 | volume 22 | 1 Feng Youlan’s Interpretation of Western Philosophy: A Critical Examination from the Perspective of Metaphysical Methodology Derong Chen Abstract: This paper concentrates on Feng’s interpretation of Western philosophy from the perspective of metaphysical methodology and aims to display a limited observation of Feng’s interpretation of Western philosophy through the window of metaphysical methodology. Based on a brief review of the recent studies of Feng Youlan and Western philoso- phy, this paper analyzes the progress and insufficient aspects in current studies on this issue and particularly clarifies what are the metaphysics and metaphysical methods in the context of Feng Youlan’s philosophy. In clarifying Feng’s interpreta- tion of Western philosophy from the perspective of methodology, this paper further critically analyzes Feng’s positive metaphysical methods and negative metaphysical methods, and assumes that Feng’s negative metaphysical methods essentially is a kind of attitude towards metaphysics but neither a kind of metaphysics nor a kind of metaphysical methods. Instead of characterizing metaphysical methods as positive and negative as Feng did, this paper suggests an alternative division of metaphysical methods: direct and indirect methods of dealing with metaphysical issues. Keywords Feng Youlan; metaphysics; metaphysical methods; Western philosophy; negative metaphysics In the twentieth century, Feng Youlan was one of the Chinese intellectuals most deeply Derong Chen is a Sessional involved in the dialogue and interaction between Chinese and Western philosophies. In Lecturer II at the University of addition to studying Western philosophy at Columbia University, he systematically con- Toronto Mississauga. ducted research on Western philosophy, specifically the philosophy of life. -
Inscriptional Records of the Western Zhou
INSCRIPTIONAL RECORDS OF THE WESTERN ZHOU Robert Eno Fall 2012 Note to Readers The translations in these pages cannot be considered scholarly. They were originally prepared in early 1988, under stringent time pressures, specifically for teaching use that term. Although I modified them sporadically between that time and 2012, my final year of teaching, their purpose as course materials, used in a week-long classroom exercise for undergraduate students in an early China history survey, did not warrant the type of robust academic apparatus that a scholarly edition would have required. Since no broad anthology of translations of bronze inscriptions was generally available, I have, since the late 1990s, made updated versions of this resource available online for use by teachers and students generally. As freely available materials, they may still be of use. However, as specialists have been aware all along, there are many imperfections in these translations, and I want to make sure that readers are aware that there is now a scholarly alternative, published last month: A Source Book of Ancient Chinese Bronze Inscriptions, edited by Constance Cook and Paul Goldin (Berkeley: Society for the Study of Early China, 2016). The “Source Book” includes translations of over one hundred inscriptions, prepared by ten contributors. I have chosen not to revise the materials here in light of this new resource, even in the case of a few items in the “Source Book” that were contributed by me, because a piecemeal revision seemed unhelpful, and I am now too distant from research on Western Zhou bronzes to undertake a more extensive one. -
Introduction: Five Trends in Confucian Studies
1 INTRODUCTION: FIVE TRENDS IN CONFUCIAN STUDIES John Zijiang Ding For over a decade, Confucian studies have gone through several evolutions and developments. From 2010 to today, this area has delivered a number of the fine scholars. This special issue of JET will examine the works of those Confucian scholars who have advanced significantly in the last few years in certain genres, and also share our thoughts on where certain tendencies are heading in the near future. For this purpose, we will analyze and compare five current trends in Confucian studies: global-contextualism, Asian-modernism, Asian-Americanism,multi-comparativism, and classical-textualism. We will offer an overview of these five trends revealing how each of them comprise a significant movement in Confucian studies. In addressing each, we will provide certain theoretical critiques and the responses to those critiques. The main thrust of this issue is to examine the similarities and differences among (between) those scholarly inquiries as well as to justify those research programs which are debatable, controversial and even confusing. I. Confucian Studies Based on Global-Contextualism Generally, contextualism means that any system of claims, values, and activities cannot be understood outside of the real cultural context in which they occur. For many scholars, to understand the philosophical background of contextualism is very helpful in exploring the real meanings of these crucial concepts in Confucianism. A modern practice of classical Confucianism requires a contextualist interpretation of the world. As virtue, consequent or normative ethics, Confucianism should be contextualized, globalized, and developed as the modern way of thinking emphasizing rationality and practice over traditional considerations. -
The Analects of Confucius
The analecTs of confucius An Online Teaching Translation 2015 (Version 2.21) R. Eno © 2003, 2012, 2015 Robert Eno This online translation is made freely available for use in not for profit educational settings and for personal use. For other purposes, apart from fair use, copyright is not waived. Open access to this translation is provided, without charge, at http://hdl.handle.net/2022/23420 Also available as open access translations of the Four Books Mencius: An Online Teaching Translation http://hdl.handle.net/2022/23421 Mencius: Translation, Notes, and Commentary http://hdl.handle.net/2022/23423 The Great Learning and The Doctrine of the Mean: An Online Teaching Translation http://hdl.handle.net/2022/23422 The Great Learning and The Doctrine of the Mean: Translation, Notes, and Commentary http://hdl.handle.net/2022/23424 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION i MAPS x BOOK I 1 BOOK II 5 BOOK III 9 BOOK IV 14 BOOK V 18 BOOK VI 24 BOOK VII 30 BOOK VIII 36 BOOK IX 40 BOOK X 46 BOOK XI 52 BOOK XII 59 BOOK XIII 66 BOOK XIV 73 BOOK XV 82 BOOK XVI 89 BOOK XVII 94 BOOK XVIII 100 BOOK XIX 104 BOOK XX 109 Appendix 1: Major Disciples 112 Appendix 2: Glossary 116 Appendix 3: Analysis of Book VIII 122 Appendix 4: Manuscript Evidence 131 About the title page The title page illustration reproduces a leaf from a medieval hand copy of the Analects, dated 890 CE, recovered from an archaeological dig at Dunhuang, in the Western desert regions of China. The manuscript has been determined to be a school boy’s hand copy, complete with errors, and it reproduces not only the text (which appears in large characters), but also an early commentary (small, double-column characters). -
Postmodernism and Classical Chinese Philosophy
Cultural and Religious Studies, March 2016, Vol. 4, No. 3, 194-203 doi: 10.17265/2328-2177/2016.03.005 D DAVID PUBLISHING Postmodernism and Classical Chinese Philosophy Yong-Kang Wei University of Texas (RGV), Texas, USA While over two thousand years apart, Western postmodernism and ancient Chinese philosophy share some extraordinary similarities, especially epistemology wise. For example, they both recognize the role of language in constructing, and limiting, knowledge and reality. This is because thinkers of different cultures and geographical regions, and of different historical periods, can possibly come up with similar philosophical conclusions when addressing what is commonly known as the “human condition”. The paper will discuss, in general terms, some of the philosophical similarities between postmodernism and classical Chinese philosophy; it will also take a close look at three concepts in Chinese philosophy that register strong affinity with Western postmodernism: namely, change, dialectic, and relativism. Keywords: postmodernism, modernism, classical Chinese philosophy Introduction Postmodernism, as a philosophical concept, was first introduced in China by Fredric R. Jameson in 1985, when he was lecturing on “postmodernism” and “cultural theory” at Peking University (Wang, 2008). So readers may immediately sense a chronological incongruity between postmodernism and classical Chinese philosophy. However, it is quite possible, I would argue, that thinkers of different cultures and geographical regions, and of different historical periods, can come up with similar conclusions when addressing what is commonly known as the “human condition”. For example, Confucius’ “己所不欲,勿施于人” (Don’t do things to others that you don’t want done to yourself) is echoed, almost identically, in the Christian Bible, and Protagoras’ (490-420 B.C.) paradox rings very similar to the “two-argument” theory (两可论) of Deng Xi1 (邓 析, 545-501 B.C.), a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period.